Written Answers Friday 10 March 2006

Scottish Executive

Agriculture

Richard Lochhead (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will introduce new measures to help the pig industry compete with cheaper and inferior imported products stocked by supermarkets.

Ross Finnie: The Scottish pig industry has received £4.75 million of financial support from the UK Pig Industry Restructuring Scheme. The terms of the scheme, agreed with the European Commission in January 2001, prohibit further assistance to the sector for a period of 10 years.

  Product sourcing policies are a matter for the supermarkets. The Executive encourages retailers to continue to offer consumers the option of purchasing Scottish pork products.

Agriculture

Richard Lochhead (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make representations to the supermarkets in respect of the pressures experienced by the pig industry to ensure that the sector can compete on a level playing field.

Ross Finnie: I constantly stress, to supermarkets and to others in the supply chain, the importance of healthy trading relationships, with good communication and co-operation throughout the supply chain. Product sourcing decisions are, however, a matter for the supermarkets themselves.

Agriculture

Richard Lochhead (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any legal issues which would prevent the introduction of a tenant farmer’s right to buy where the tenant’s landlord lives, or is based, outwith Scotland.

Ross Finnie: No.

Antisocial Behaviour

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many Antisocial Behaviour orders have been served in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.

Hugh Henry: Information on numbers of ASBOs granted in each local authority area in the period 1 December 1999 to 31 March 2005 is provided in the following tables. Figures are presented in separate tables as the reporting period was changed from annual to financial year reporting in 2003.

  Table A: ASBOs Granted in Scotland 1 December 1999 to 30 November 2002 by Local Authority Area

  

Local Authority
Number of ASBOs Granted


01/12/1999
to 30/11/2000 
01/12/2000
to 30/11/2001 
01/12/2001
to 30/11/2002 


Aberdeen City 
9
9
6


Aberdeenshire
0
1
1


Angus 
0
0
0


Argyll and Bute
0
0
0


City of Edinburgh
11
9
1


Clackmannanshire
0
0
0


Eilean Siar 
0
0
0


Dumfries and Galloway
0
0
1


Dundee City 
7
8
3


East Ayrshire
0
0
0


East Dunbartonshire 
0
0
0


East Lothian 
0
0
0


East Renfrewshire 
0
0
0


Falkirk 
0
0
0


Fife 
7
14
20


Glasgow 
3
5
3


Highland 
1
0
4


Inverclyde
0
0
0


Midlothian 
0
0
1


Moray 
1
2
2


North Ayrshire
0
0
0


North Lanarkshire 
1
5
15


Orkney Islands 
0
0
1


Perth and Kinross
3
1
0


Renfrewshire
0
2
2


Scottish Borders 
2
3
4


Shetland Islands 
0
0
0


South Ayrshire
0
0
0


South Lanarkshire 
3
2
5


Stirling 
0
0
1


West Dunbartonshire 
4
5
2


West Lothian 
1
0
0


Total
53
66
72



  Data Source: The Chartered Institute of Housing in Scotland. Targeting Anti-social Behaviour. The use of Anti-social Behaviour Orders in Scotland. October 2003.

  Table B: ASBOs Granted in Scotland in Financial Years 2002-04 by Local Authority Area

  

 Local Authority
No ASBOs granted


1-04-2002
to 31-03-2003 
1-04-2003
to 31-03-2004**
1-04-2004
to 31-03-2005


Aberdeen City
7
13
14


Aberdeenshire
1
0
0


Angus
0
1
5


Argyll and Bute
0
0
0


Clackmannanshire
0
0
2


Dumfries and Galloway
1
7
13


Dundee City
5
13
11


East Ayrshire
2
4
5


East Dunbartonshire
0
0
0


East Lothian
0
2
1


East Renfrewshire
0
1
3


Edinburgh, City of
1
3
11


Eilean Siar
0
0
1


Falkirk
0
1
2


Fife
15
11
17


Glasgow
2
2
13


Highland
3
3
12


Inverclyde
0
0
6


Midlothian
1
3
5


Moray
2
3
1


North Ayrshire
0
1
4


North Lanarkshire
22
31
23


Orkney Islands
1
2
1


Perth and Kinross
0
0
5


Renfrewshire
1
5
14


Scottish Borders
4
5
10


Shetland Islands
0
0
1


South Ayrshire
0
0
2


South Lanarkshire
3
7
7


Stirling
2
6
5


West Dunbartonshire
3
3
4


West Lothian
0
1
7


Total
75*
128
205



  Data Source for Financial Year 2002-03: The Chartered Institute of Housing in Scotland. Targeting Anti-social Behaviour. The use of Anti-social Behaviour Orders in Scotland. October 2003.

  Data Source for Financial Years 2003-04 and 2004/05: DTZ Pieda and Heriot Watt University. Use of Antisocial Behaviour Orders in Scotland: Report of the 2004/05 Survey. Scottish Executive. Publication pending.

  Data presented in this table is currently being quality assured by local authorities.

  Notes:

  *Figures for 2002-03 are derived from data collated as part of an earlier survey conducted by the Chartered Institute of Housing in Scotland (CIHS). This survey collected data across calendar years, whereas later surveys have related to financial years. In order to construct a historical series, the CIHS data for 2002-03 was reallocated into the financial years on the assumption that ASBO activity was constant within the calendar years concerned. Due to rounding, the data for individual local authorities does not sum to the total shown for the year.

  **The power to apply for ASBOs was extended to Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) on 27 June 2003, so data for 2003-04 is the first set to include RSL returns. ASBOs granted at the request of RSLs have been included within the figures for the most relevant local authority area.

Avian Influenza

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what contingency plans there are in respect of poultry with no access to enclosed areas in the event of an avian flu outbreak in the United Kingdom.

Ross Finnie: Planning the response to a legal requirement for birds to be housed is a matter for individual poultry-keepers. In support of this the Executive has published guidance on the issues which individual poultry-keepers will wish to take into account. A wide range of bird keepers have been reminded of this information in recent biosecurity guidance distributed by the Executive.

Civil Service

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-21547 by Mr Tom McCabe on 19 December 2005, in which of its departments the vacancies in Inverness arose in (a) 2003-04 and (b) 2004-05.

Mr Tom McCabe: The information is as follows:

  in 2003-04, five of the vacancies were in the Deer Commission for Scotland and the remaining four vacancies were in the Animal Health Office in Inverness,

  in 2004-05, three of the vacancies were in the Agricultural area office in Inverness and three vacancies were in the Animal Health Office in Inverness.

Civil Service

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-21547 by Mr Tom McCabe on 19 December 2005, whether the information provided applied to the periods from (a) 1 April 2003 to 31 March 2004 and (b) 1 April 2004 to 31 March 2005 and, if not, to what dates the information applied.

Mr Tom McCabe: Yes.

Civil Service

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-21547 by Mr Tom McCabe on 19 December 2005, whether applicants for the vacancies were required to have any specific professional qualifications and/or experience and, if so, what professional qualifications and/or experience were required in respect of each vacancy.

Mr Tom McCabe: As noted in my answer to question S2W-21547, there were 15 vacancies in the Scottish Executive, excluding the Crofters Commission, in Inverness in 2003-04 and 2004-05. Of those, nine vacancies were for posts in Band A and, therefore, no professional qualifications or experience were required. The six vacancies in Bands B and C in that period were professional posts and required qualifications, knowledge and experience specific to the posts. For example, four of the posts were in the Deer Commission for Scotland so required specific knowledge and experience of the deer industry and deer management. The other two posts required a professional qualification in agriculture and knowledge and experience of agriculture at the appropriate level.

Community Care

Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average time is to make a community care assessment from point of request.

Lewis Macdonald: This information is not yet available centrally.

Community Care

Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many community care assessments were carried out in each year since 1999 for disabled people seeking direct payments, broken down by local authority.

Lewis Macdonald: This information is not available centrally.

Community Care

Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how it has monitored the take-up of direct payments since the implementation of the Community Care and Health (Scotland) Act 2002.

Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how it has measured the success of direct payments since the implementation of the Community Care and Health (Scotland) Act 2002.

Lewis Macdonald: Since 2001 take up of direct payments has been monitored by local authorities completing a quarterly return that asks for the number of clients receiving direct payments, split by age and client group. The range of questions has been expanded for the survey of the current year 2005-06, results of which will be available in September. The 2004-05 statistics release is available at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/74529 . A copy is also available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 37408).

Concessionary Travel

Dr Jean Turner (Strathkelvin and Bearsden) (Ind): To ask the Scottish Executive what protection will be put in place to ensure that data used as part of the smart card system for the concessionary travel scheme is used only for that purpose.

Tavish Scott: The data used by the transport application on the National Entitlement Card (smartcard) is handled within the ITSO technology standard environment. This is a secure encrypted environment similar to that used for credit cards. Data relating to travel will only be used to reimburse the transport operator who carried the concession holder and to provide statistics on use of the concessionary travel scheme. All this data will be processed anonymously, and within all requirements of Data Protection legislation. The application forms for the cards have a data consent request which allows data to be used for any local authority purpose.

Concessionary Travel

Dr Jean Turner (Strathkelvin and Bearsden) (Ind): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the smart card system to be employed under the concessionary travel scheme will be a dual interface system or a contactless card system.

Tavish Scott: The transport application on the National Entitlement Card (smartcard) uses the ITSO technology environment which means it can operate as a secure contactless card system. The National Entitlement Card is currently a contactless system but may be enhanced in the future with a dual interface card.

Concessionary Travel

Dr Jean Turner (Strathkelvin and Bearsden) (Ind): To ask the Scottish Executive what the total cost will be of the procurement, installation and maintenance of the smart card system within the concessionary travel scheme.

Tavish Scott: Two key contracts have been let as a result of the national concessionary travel scheme being introduced. One is for fleet equipment for transport operators and the cost of equipping the Scottish bus and ferry fleet is expected to be in the region of £13 million. The second is for back office systems and data processing for Transport Scotland. The cost of this managed services contract over seven years is £5.8 million (excluding communications networks).

  As part of the wider entitlement card initiative, there is a contract in place to supply 1.6 million transport operator accredited smartcards at the costs of 56p per card. However, these cards are multi-application and will also support a wide range of public services as well as concessionary fares. The processing cost per card (including distribution) is 80p or £1.25 per card depending on the application method used.

Council Tax

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish details of the representations it has made in the last two years to Her Majesty’s Government with regard to council tax benefits.

George Lyon: The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the UK Government on a wide range of issues, including council tax benefit.

DNA Samples

John Farquhar Munro (Ross, Skye and Inverness West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on how many research projects using DNA profiles obtained from Scots and loaded on the National DNA Database have sought the informed consent of participants since 1995.

Cathy Jamieson: As noted in the answer to question S2W-22758 on 28 February 2006, the Scottish Executive is aware of nine research requests which have been approved by the National DNA Database.

  No information is held on whether these projects used DNA profiles collected from Scots (although three could not have done as they only used DNA samples) or on whether consent was sought from the participants.

DNA Samples

John Farquhar Munro (Ross, Skye and Inverness West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what legal advice it has sought in respect of the use of DNA profiles obtained from DNA samples collected from individuals arrested in Scotland which has been used for genetic research without consent.

Cathy Jamieson: It is not possible to use DNA profiles for genetic research as DNA profiles do not contain genetically significant information.

DNA Samples

John Farquhar Munro (Ross, Skye and Inverness West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what legal advice it has sought in respect of the use of DNA profiles obtained from DNA samples collected from volunteers in Scotland for genetic research without consent.

Dentistry

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting times have been for (a) emergency and (b) routine dental treatment in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board area.

Lewis Macdonald: Information on waiting times for emergency or routine treatment in the general and community dental service is not available from central statistical returns.

Dentistry

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of children were registered with NHS dentists in each of the last three years, broken down by NHS board.

Lewis Macdonald: This information is contained in Appendix 1, table A3 of the Scottish Dental Practice Board Annual Report 2004/05 . This can be accessed at:

  http://www.show.scot.nhs.uk/sdpb/Annual%20Report%20and%20Executive%20Summaries/SDPB_annual_report_2004-05.pdf.

Dentistry

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been paid by each NHS board to general dental practitioners in the year before they moved to private practice since 1999 and how the boards have reallocated the funds saved by such moves.

Lewis Macdonald: This information is not held centrally.

Dentistry

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide an update on the progress it has made in discussions with the British Dental Association in respect of a new dental contract for NHS dentists.

Lewis Macdonald: Executive officials meet with representatives from the British Dental Association (BDA) on a regular basis to take forward the implementation of the Action Plan for Improving Oral Health and Modernising NHS Dental Services in Scotland . I confirmed the basis for additional funding for dentists committed to treating all categories of patient on the NHS at the time of the debate on dentistry in the Parliament on 17 November 2005. The BDA does not support our requirement that all categories of patient be treated on the NHS. That principle is not negotiable.

Dentistry

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many dental practitioners offered NHS dentistry in 2005, broken down by NHS board.

Lewis Macdonald: The information requested can be found on the Scottish Health Statistics website at:

  http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/info3.jsp?pContentID=3446&p_applic=CCC&p_service=Content.show&.

Direct Payments

Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people with a physical disability it estimates are entitled to a direct payment which they do not currently receive.

Lewis Macdonald: The Executive collects statistics on the number of recipients of direct payments, by client group, but does not hold information on the numbers seeking direct payments, or those who have been offered payments but not yet received them.

Direct Payments

Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people with a learning disability it estimates are entitled to a direct payment which they do not currently receive.

Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people with mental health problems it estimates are entitled to a direct payment which they do not currently receive.

Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many representations have been made to ministers in respect of the effectiveness or otherwise of the direct payments scheme for disabled people.

Lewis Macdonald: Ministers received approximately 40 pieces of correspondence on direct payments in the year to April 2005.

Direct Payments

Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average time has been to make a payment under the direct payment scheme for disabled people from point of community care assessment to payment, broken down by local authority in each year since 2003.

Lewis Macdonald: This information is not held centrally. Need is assessed on an individual basis and the time from referral to service delivery will be dictated by several variables, notably the complexity of the care package.

Direct Payments

Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how it monitors the uniformity of approach across Scotland to community care assessments for disabled people seeking direct payments.

Lewis Macdonald: On Single Shared Assessment (SSA) generally, the Scottish Executive has issued guidance to local authorities and the NHS on implementation, and on how to assess user satisfaction with SSAs. It has also issued a common data set for assessment of older people’s services and will extend that shortly to all community care groups. It has set up a network of managers responsible for implementation in local partnerships; is beginning to collect data on local performance on SSAs; and has invited local partnerships to demonstrate through their Local Improvement Targets how they will improve response times.

Direct Payments

Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many local direct support organisations there are for people receiving direct payments and whether it will list such organisations.

Lewis Macdonald: In addition to the national organisation the Scottish Personal Assistant Employers’ Network (SPAEN), which offers support to individual users across Scotland, there are currently 23 local direct payments support organisations covering most of Scotland. These organisations are listed in the Table of Scottish local direct payments support organisations available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 38985).

Direct Payments

Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many personal assistants were employed in part or in full through the direct payments scheme in each year since 1999.

Lewis Macdonald: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-19002 on 16 September 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

  The Executive is currently collecting data for the year 2005-06 which will be reported in September 2006. However, an informal trawl conducted in October 2005 yielded a return from 15 local authorities which estimated that approximately 830 personal assistants were known to be employed at that time.

Drug Misuse

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what different drug treatment programmes there are; what alternative treatments it considered, and who provided the information upon which any choices were based.

Hugh Henry: During the stakeholder consultation to develop the National Waiting Times Information Framework, a series of definitions was agreed for different treatment types, shown below. Clients may experience more than one type of intervention at a time and combinations of interventions more than once during the recovery process.

  

Code
Treatment Type
Definition


1.
Structured preparatory and motivational intervention.
Planned intervention that stabilises the client or prepares them for further interventions. It must be structured and have agreed goal(s).


2.
Prescribed drug treatment (including detoxification, maintenance or reduction programme).
The prescribing of a substitute drug, (e.g. methadone, lofexidine, subutex) for facilitating the complete cessation of the use of illicit drugs, controlling withdrawal symptoms or reducing illicit drug use.


3.
Community based support and/or rehabilitation. 
Interventions that have the purpose of tackling the social and psychological problems faced by the client (such as debt /relationship and family problems, relapse prevention or employability and training issues) e.g. structured day programmes, counselling, group work.Clients may be in receipt of other treatment interventions in parallel with community based support and rehabilitation (e.g. substitute prescribing).


4.
Residential detoxification and rehabilitation.
Detoxification and/or rehabilitation that involves the client being admitted to a residential facility or hospital.



  Decisions on treatment interventions and options are for individual patients and their medical and social care professionals.

Drug Misuse

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many drug addicts have re-entered drug treatment in each year since 1999.

Hugh Henry: The Scottish Drug Misuse Database (SDMD) records new clients coming into treatment for drug misuse. The following table shows the total number of new clients treated each year and the percentage who had at least one previous entry in the SDMD in the previous five years.

  Clients may occur more than once in the database if

  (a) they enter treatment at an agency, leave, and re-enter treatment at least six months later, or

  (b) they are referred from one agency to another.

  Consequently, the estimate of "clients previously treated" presented in the following table includes both clients who move within the system and those who re-enter it.

  

Year
Total Clients
First Ever Attendance of Clients1,2
Clients Previously Treated in Last 5 Years


Number
% of All Clients
Number
% of All Clients


1999
10,426
6,998
67.1
N/A3
-


2000
10,581
6,367
60.2
4,100
38.7


2001
11,685
6,864
58.7
4,505
38.6


2002
11,718
6,169
52.6
5,008
42.7


2003
13,086
6,664
50.9
5,646
43.1


2004
14,332
7,215
50.3
6,097
42.5



  Notes:

  1 New clients: The information held on the Scottish Drug Misuse Database relates to new patients/clients. The definition of "new"’ is (a) the person is attending the particular service for the first time ever, or (b) the person has attended before but not within the previous six months. Thus, the statistics do not reflect the total number of drug misusers seen by services during any period.

  2 The first time ever that these clients have been reported to the database

  3 The database was established in 1995, so it was not possible to look at "the last five years" before 2000.

  The Scottish Drug Misuse Database is currently being enhanced to collect information on people at key points in their care. The new data collection system is due to be launched in the summer of 2006 and once full compliance is achieved information will become available on the numbers of people re-entering treatment each year.

Drug Misuse

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people referred to drug treatment programmes in each of the last five years actually entered such a programme.

Hugh Henry: The information requested is not held centrally.

Drug Misuse

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have been prosecuted for (a) drug dealing and (b) drug possession in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.

Cathy Jamieson: The available information is given in the following tables.

  Persons Proceeded Against for Supply or Possession with Intent to Supply Drugs1, by Approximate Authority Area2, 1999-2003

  

Local authority area
1999
2000
2001
2002
20033


Aberdeen City 
96
63
56
75
64


Aberdeenshire 
16
12
28
24
32


Angus 
17
27
19
18
17


Argyll and Bute 
15
22
29
11
6


Clackmannanshire 
27
13
13
16
29


Dumfries and Galloway
32
38
29
49
39


Dundee City 
30
31
19
48
42


East Ayrshire 
58
55
68
67
117


East Lothian 
8
3
4
2
7


Edinburgh, City of 
132
113
127
114
129


Eilean Siar 
6
2
2
7
3


Falkirk 
33
31
48
53
42


Fife 
76
43
63
61
73


Glasgow City 
564
393
405
273
355


Highland 
32
32
46
45
63


Inverclyde 
54
45
43
39
51


Midlothian 
-
1
-
-
-


Moray 
14
11
12
7
12


North Lanarkshire 
69
48
44
39
33


Orkney Islands 
8
1
4
-
6


Perth and Kinross 
65
49
60
67
55


Renfrewshire 
62
50
39
25
26


Scottish Borders 
9
18
9
16
21


Shetland Islands 
3
-
5
8
1


South Ayrshire 
47
41
49
36
62


South Lanarkshire 
110
108
148
80
71


Stirling 
18
13
33
28
31


West Dunbartonshire
43
30
32
21
33


West Lothian 
31
34
16
32
31


Other(4)
446
395
386
318
374


Scotland(5)
2,121
1,723
1,836
1,579
1,825



  Persons Proceeded Against for Possession of Drugs1, by Approximate Local Authority Area2, 1999-2003

  

Local Authority Area
1999
2000
2001
2002
20033


Aberdeen City 
301
220
300
303
405


Aberdeenshire 
156
102
169
125
155


Angus 
116
109
76
85
99


Argyll and Bute 
89
87
115
84
101


Clackmannanshire 
34
30
35
36
60


Dumfries and Galloway
123
93
64
95
105


Dundee City 
217
198
205
222
254


East Ayrshire 
179
171
173
158
212


East Dunbartonshire
23
16
14
20
34


East Lothian 
38
23
39
34
33


East Renfrewshire 
10
10
17
14
14


Edinburgh, City of 
401
370
351
237
234


Eilean Siar 
33
12
15
29
20


Falkirk 
100
111
133
149
144


Fife 
225
127
98
131
99


Glasgow City 
1,179
996
902
902
1,081


Highland 
218
209
246
291
296


Inverclyde 
222
208
163
220
300


Midlothian 
13
13
21
8
10


Moray 
74
41
67
36
59


North Ayrshire 
60
36
56
35
51


North Lanarkshire 
345
314
307
248
426


Orkney Islands 
7
7
3
5
6


Perth and Kinross 
108
89
125
117
135


Renfrewshire 
222
161
139
119
149


Scottish Borders 
64
90
93
87
63


Shetland Islands 
12
17
15
12
16


South Ayrshire 
243
257
231
222
305


South Lanarkshire 
342
357
425
425
459


Stirling 
55
46
90
121
137


West Dunbartonshire
156
91
103
94
219


West Lothian 
113
87
93
61
72


Other4
11
11
12
10
11


Scotland5
5,489
4,709
4,897
4,736
5,766



  Notes:

  1. Where main offence.

  2. Incorporates an approximate mapping of sheriff courts into local authority areas. Some sheriff courts will deal with cases from more than one local authority area. Some local authority areas, including East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Midlothian and North Ayrshire, do not contain a sheriff court.

  3. Includes estimated data.

  4. Includes High Court cases and those where court location is not known.

  5. Scotland totals for court proceedings statistics may contain a small number of cases where the police force area and/or local authority area are unknown.

Employment

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on how long Monaghan Middlebrook Mushrooms at Drem in East Lothian sourced labour from gangmasters and when it claims that it ceased to do so.

Ross Finnie: The specific information requested is not available.

Epilepsy

Mrs Nanette Milne (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how the initial work undertaken by managed clinical networks can be resourced after the end of the pump-priming period and what encouragement will be given to regional planning groups to ensure that managed clinical networks for epilepsy continue.

Lewis Macdonald: Regional Planning Groups (RPGs) are aware of the need to support and monitor regional Managed Clinical Networks once their pump-priming funding comes to an end. This will be re-iterated in the new Health Department Letter on Managed Clinical Networks mentioned in Delivering for Health .

  The Executive also provides funding to Epilepsy Scotland in recognition of its work with clinicians and the Regional Planning Groups in promoting MCNs as an effective way of providing services for people with epilepsy.

European Funding

Jim Mather (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has made any calculation in respect of the impact of the EU budget on future EU funding allocations through its block grant under the Barnett formula.

Allan Wilson: The EU budget will not be finalised until the negotiations have been completed with the European Parliament as part of the Inter-Institutional Agreement. Moreover, some of the allocations within the budget are subject to negotiation within the United Kingdom, particularly how the UK’s share of the Regional Competitiveness and Employment Objective element of the Structural Funds will be divided between the nations and regions. Consequently, it is not possible at this stage to calculate the impact of the EU budget on the Scottish Assigned Budget.

European Funding

Jim Mather (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether Scotland has been fully funded in respect of EU allocations for Scottish regions and programmes under each previous funding settlement.

Allan Wilson: Scottish programmes have made full use of resources allocated over successive funding rounds by awarding all grant available to projects. In 2000-06, new financial spend targets were introduced by the EU, which have meant that the full sum of any one year’s allocations to programmes must be spent within two years of the allocation year or risk automatic de-commitment (referred to as "N+2"). Scottish programmes have met all their N+2 targets apart from under the Highlands and Islands Special Transitional Programme, where lack of spend by project beneficiaries led to automatic de-commitment of European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund monies in 2003 and Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance monies in 2004.

European Funding

Jim Mather (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what analysis it has made of the impact on its block grant of any EU funding reductions to English regions.

Allan Wilson: As the EU budget cannot be finalised until the negotiations have been completed with the European Parliament, it is not possible at this stage to calculate the impact of any reductions in EU funding to English regions on the Scottish Assigned Budget.

Fire Service

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the rates of fire service recruiting were in each of the last five years in each fire board area.

Hugh Henry: This is a matter for Fire and Rescue Authorities and Joint Fire and Rescue Boards rather than the Scottish Executive. However, information on recruitment can be found in Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Fire Services Annual Reports which are available on the Inspectorate’s website at:

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Justice/Fire/15130/1028

Fire Service

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the rates of resignations and retirements from the fire service were in each of the last five years in each fire board area.

Hugh Henry: This is a matter for Fire and Rescue Authorities and Joint Fire and Rescue Boards rather than the Scottish Executive. However, information on resignation and retirements can be found in Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Fire Services Annual Reports which are available on the Inspectorate’s website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Justice/Fire/15130/1028 .

Fire Service

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many retained fire fighters there have been in each of the last five years in each fire board area.

Hugh Henry: The numbers of retained firefighters in each of the last five years by fire and rescue authority area are shown in the following table.

  Retained Fire Fighters by Fire Authority Area

  

 
Scotland
Central
Dumfries and Galloway
Fife
Grampian
Highlands and Islands
Lothian and Borders
Strathclyde
Tayside


2001
2,555
144
197
100
413
506
310
639
246


2002
2,620
150
193
112
396
597
317
615
240


2003
2,507
158
201
106
391
498
308
596
249


2004
2,522
162
196
107
389
492
302
610
264


2005
3,034
160
206
104
391
1059
286
592
236

Fire Service

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to fund police authorities and fire and rescue service boards directly.

Hugh Henry: We have no current plans to fund fire and rescue boards directly or to change the way that we fund the police service.

Fisheries

Phil Gallie (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what additional cash and manpower will be required by the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency if it assumes policing responsibilities in respect of regulating orders.

Ross Finnie: In the 2004 Spending Review the gross operating budget for the agency was increased by £2.195 million (to £19.499 million) and £4.318 million (to £21.622 million) in 2006-07 and 2007-08 respectively. The 2006-07 Budget approved by the Parliament for gross agency operating costs is increased by a further £1.641 million, to £21.140 million. These increases reflect the need to meet the cost of additional Regulating Orders and other inshore regulation enforcement burdens. In manpower terms this will involve employing an additional 36 staff for shore based enforcement and crewing of an additional inshore fisheries protection vessel. The strategy will be kept under review as policy on inshore fisheries develops, including if any further Regulating Order proposals come forward.

Health

Richard Lochhead (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many hospital (a) in-patient and (b) out-patient operations have been cancelled or postponed in each hospital due to the (i) malfunctioning or (ii) lack of appropriate preparation of medical equipment in each of the last three years and so far this year, showing also national totals and expressed as a percentage of all such operations in each case.

Mr Andy Kerr: The information requested is not centrally available.

Health

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it has issued to NHS boards in respect of patient travel times and distances to access consultant-led hospital-based accident and emergency services.

Mr Andy Kerr: No specific guidance in respect of patient travel times and distances to access consultant-led hospital-based accident and emergency services has been issued. However, when a proposal for a service change, including changes to hospital-based accident and emergency services, is to be submitted to me for approval, I expect the impact of the proposed change on the travel arrangements of patients to be fully assessed and addressed.

  The Kerr Report, Building a Health Service: Fit for Future, also suggests that approximately 70% of the cases currently seen in consultant-led "Accident and Emergency" units could be treated in nurse or paramedic led Community Casualty Units. Delivering for Heath therefore suggests that care for the majority of unscheduled cases should be maintained or expanded at the local level through the development of these units.

Health

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it has issued to NHS boards in respect of the accessibility of public transport and travel times for patients and their relatives.

Mr Andy Kerr: The Transport (Scotland) Act 2005 provides for the establishment of regional transport partnerships and the drawing up of a comprehensive transport strategy in each region. NHS boards were informed in July 2005 that they would be consulted by the new regional transport partnerships to ensure that regional transport strategies address access to health care facilities. Boards were also advised that they should, as far as possible, act consistently with the regional transport strategies applying in their area.

  Also when a proposal for a service change is to be submitted to me for approval, I expect the impact of the proposed change on the travel arrangements of patients, carers, visitors and staff to have been fully assessed and addressed. We are currently working with the Scottish Health Council to finalise a review of the draft interim guidance on Informing, Engaging and Consulting the Public in Developing Health and Community Care Services and this will include a specific requirement that NHS boards should conduct a travel impact assessment whenever a significant service change or development is proposed.

Health

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what research it has carried out into patient deaths or serious illness resulting from misdiagnosis by minor injuries units.

Mr Andy Kerr: No specific research on misdiagnosis has been carried out.

  Fit for the Future, the report of the group led by Professor David Kerr, recommended remodelling NHSScotland to provide people with the right care in the right setting. This meant establishing a tier of locally provided assessment and treatment services such as minor injury clinics. This would allow the majority of people currently accessing accident and emergency services to be treated closer to home and faster than at present, whilst freeing specialist accident and emergency resources for those who really need them. This model requires good triage services to ensure that GPs, NHS24 and the Scottish Ambulance Service refer people to the right level of care, and to ensure that patients who self refer incorrectly are identified quickly and taken to the right setting. NHS boards have risk management and clinical governance arrangements to provide assurance that diagnosis and treatment are of consistently high quality.

Housing

Richard Baker (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to encourage local authorities to manage their housing stock more effectively.

Malcolm Chisholm: I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:

  Communities Scotland regulates all of Scotland’s social housing; this includes the inspection of the landlord services and services to homeless people provided by local authorities. We do this within a framework of performance standards that have been agreed with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and with the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations. We use this framework to help ensure that landlords deliver good housing and related services for the benefit of current tenants and future tenants and homeless people. Communities Scotland’s aim is to promote quality and good practice, and to act as a catalyst to help landlords improve their performance in the areas that will have most impact.

Housing

Ms Rosemary Byrne (South of Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what support and guidance is given to local authorities to ensure the availability of appropriate supported accommodation for vulnerable adults.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Scottish Executive provided investment of £1.2 billion in housing support services over three years in the spending review 2004 to support vulnerable people from the Supporting People programme. A further £50 million per annum is provided over the same period to prevent and alleviate homelessness. All of these resources go to local authorities who in turn make funding available to voluntary sector and private providers of housing services to vulnerable adults. Local authorities are free to add to these resources from other budgets such as social work.

  Extensive guidance is given to local authorities to establish local strategies to assess local needs, determine priorities and make best use of resources.

Justice

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many kidnappings there have been since 1999, broken down by police force area.

Cathy Jamieson: There is no crime of "kidnapping" in Scotland. The available information is given in the following table.

  Number of Crimes of Abduction and Plagium* Recorded by Police Force Area, 1999-2000 to 2004-05

  

Police Force Area
1999-2000
2000-01
2001-02
2002-03
2003-04
2004-05


Central
22
24
30
15
26
40


Dumfries and Galloway
2
1
3
1
2
2


Fife
26
21
29
30
31
38


Grampian
30
26
38
22
25
29


Lothian and Borders
59
68
66
59
51
53


Northern
1
4
14
8
14
9


Strathclyde
185
143
155
167
156
188


Tayside
33
31
33
31
36
33


All Scotland
358
318
368
333
341
392



  Plagium, or child stealing, is an aggravated form of theft under Scots common law.

Justice

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many retailers have been prosecuted for selling solvents to under age customers in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.

Cathy Jamieson: The statistics held centrally do not separately identify prosecutions for selling solvents to underage customers from other offences of culpable and reckless conduct.

Justice

Alasdair Morgan (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the total cost per year is of providing working clothing to those sentenced to community service; what the source of the funds is, and whether any proportion of the cost is recovered from the offender.

Cathy Jamieson: Local authorities are responsible for the operation of community service order schemes. Information on the total cost per year of providing working clothing to those sentenced by courts to community service orders is not held centrally.

Justice

Tommy Sheridan (Glasgow) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much it considers that Thomas Campbell and Joseph Steele deserve as fair recompense for their wrongful imprisonment for over 18 years for the deaths of six members of the Doyle family in Glasgow in 1984, in light of the Minister for Justice’s recent comments regarding the £750,000 compensation payment to former police officer Shirley McKie that it represented "fair recompense for all that she has been through" ( Official Report c. 23347).

Cathy Jamieson: The circumstances of each case are unique and each must be considered independently in isolation. Scottish ministers have determined that Mr Campbell and Mr Steele are entitled to statutory compensation for a miscarriage of justice as provided for in the Criminal Justice Act 1988.

  Section 133 of the 1988 act requires that an Assessor is appointed to make a determination of the amount of compensation to be paid. Under section 133(4) of the 1988 act the determination of the amount of the award is entirely for the Assessor. Scottish ministers have no power to vary that determination

Legal Aid

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration it has given to the request from the Scottish Legal Aid Board to enable it to extend the number of instalments for payment of an applicant’s assessed contribution beyond 20.

Hugh Henry: The recent consultation paper on Advice for All: Publicly Funded Legal Assistance in Scotland – The Way  Forward specifically raised the question of whether, in cases where persons in receipt of civil legal aid are required to make a contribution towards the cost of their case, the Scottish Legal Aid Board should be able to collect contributions over a longer period of time than applies at present. The responses received supported an extension.

  We are now giving further consideration to this proposal (on which we have received recent correspondence from the Scottish Legal Aid Board).

Legal Services Ombudsman

Marilyn Livingstone (Kirkcaldy) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many complaints about the Law Society of Scotland were received by the Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman in (a) 2003, (b) 2004 and (c) 2005.

Hugh Henry: Based on the reporting period of the Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman’s Annual Reports the figures are:

  

2002-03
199


2003-04
320


2004-05
426



  The ombudsman has since confirmed that she received 553 complaints for the calendar year 2005.

  The figures are given in the annual reports of the Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman for 2002-03, 2003-04 and 2004-05, copies of which are available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. numbers 28277, 33250 and 37015). They are also available at:

  http://www.slso.org.uk/reports.html.

Legal Services Ombudsman

Marilyn Livingstone (Kirkcaldy) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many complaints regarding excessive time taken for decisions by the Law Society of Scotland were received by the Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman in (a) 2003, (b) 2004 and (c) 2005.

Hugh Henry: The ombudsman has confirmed that in the calendar year 2005, there were 53 cases in which she prepared a formal written opinion. For the earlier years, the data was not kept in comparable format, though the ombudsman notes that complaints about delay have reduced significantly.

Legal Services Ombudsman

Marilyn Livingstone (Kirkcaldy) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many complaints about the Law Society of Scotland received by the Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman were upheld in (a) 2003, (b) 2004 and (c) 2005.

Hugh Henry: There are no figures available. Whilst the ombudsman is empowered to investigate the handling of complaints by the Law Society of Scotland she cannot investigate the original complaint or overturn the decision by the professional body. An outline of the ombudsman’s role is available at http://www.slso.org.uk/about.html .

  However based on the proportion of cases investigated by the Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman the ombudsman found that the Law Society of Scotland’s performance was satisfactory in (a) 48% of cases, 2003 (b) 53% of cases, 2004 and (c) 47% of cases, 2005.

  These figures are given in the annual report of the Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman for 2004-05, page 23, copies of which are available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 37015). The report is also available at http://www.slso.org.uk/reports.html.

Life Expectancy

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-23103 by George Lyon on 28 February 2006, whether it will publish this information in a graph and whether it will publish a comparable graph showing equivalent figures in England and Wales.

George Lyon: GROS do not plan to publish information on change in life expectancy since 1979. Such information is available from the Government Actuary's Department (GAD). The GAD’s website gives data on life expectancy for the UK and its constituent countries, and provides graphs of time series from 1981. The information can be found at:

  http://www.gad.gov.uk/Population/index.asp?v=Principal&y=2004&subYear=Continue.

Mountain Rescue

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to ensure the long-term funding of mountain rescue teams.

Cathy Jamieson: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-23327 on 7 March 2006. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

Myalgic Encephalomyelitis

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-19357 by Lewis Macdonald on 3 October 2005, when it expects to put the contract for providing an assessment of needs for ME services out to tender; when the tender process will be complete, and how much it will cost.

Lewis Macdonald: The Executive is committed to carrying out an assessment of the service needs of those with CFS/ME and the financial resources for the assessment have been identified. We are still considering the best options for obtaining an independent assessment, and ensuring that the arrangements conform to procurement requirements. We also want to make sure that the specification for the tender will deliver the intended outcomes. I hope to be able to make an announcement in the near future which will include the information requested in the question.

Myalgic Encephalomyelitis

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-19357 by Lewis Macdonald on 3 October 2005, whether it will list the companies or organisations that will be invited to tender to provide an assessment of needs for ME services.

Lewis Macdonald: The Executive will follow the procedures laid down for tendering exercises, and will be happy to make public the names of those organisations which submit a bid to undertake the assessment.

Myalgic Encephalomyelitis

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-19357 by Lewis Macdonald on 3 October 2005, what patient involvement there will be in the tendering process for providing an assessment of needs for ME services.

Lewis Macdonald: In taking forward the tendering process, we shall consider how people with ME/CFS, and those representing their interests, can most effectively contribute.

NHS Procurement

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-23485 by Mr Andy Kerr on 3 March 2006, whether it will publish the formula referred to in the answer.

Mr Andy Kerr: The formula referred to in the answer to question S2W-23485 is the Arbuthnott Formula adjusted for cross boundary flows and weighted for the provision of regional specialities. Island boards, due to low population levels, receive an additional uplift to obtain parity and Special Health Boards, who continue to bid for capital funding, are given sufficient funds to meet planned projects. The Arbuthnott percentages applied to capital allocations for NHS boards are as follows:

  

NHS Boards
Arbuthnott Percentages


Argyll and Clyde
7.110


Ayrshire and Arran
6.680


Borders
1.890


Dumfries and Galloway
2.860


Fife
5.490


Forth Valley
4.550


Grampian
8.780


Greater Glasgow
25.290


Highland
4.240


Lanarkshire
8.960


Lothian
15.340


Orkney
0.240


Shetland
0.270


Tayside
7.680


Western Isles
0.620


Total
100.00

NHS Waiting Times

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting time was for hospital transfers by ambulance in each year since 2000, broken down by (a) NHS board and (b) hospital.

Lewis Macdonald: This information is not collected centrally.

Opthalmic Services

Mrs Margaret Ewing (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what representations have been made to it regarding VAT payments on spectacles for which lenses have been medically prescribed.

Lewis Macdonald: The Scottish Executive has no functions in relation to VAT which is a reserved matter.

Population

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what impact control by the UK Government over immigration policy has on any initiatives that it is involved in to increase immigration into Scotland and what (a) internal discussions and (b) discussions with the UK Government it has had on the impact of such control being devolved to the Executive.

Mr Tom McCabe: The Home Office and Scottish Executive have worked constructively together on a range of initiatives regarding Fresh Talent, the Scottish Executive’s wide ranging initiative aimed at attracting bright, talented and hard-working individuals to come and live, work and study in Scotland. Fresh Talent has a number of different strands, some related to immigration which is a reserved matter and dealt with by the Home Office. On these strands the Executive continues to work closely and productively with the Home Office on facilitating some of the administrative procedures for those who want to live and work in Scotland.

  Notable successes in this area include the launch last June of the Fresh Talent: Working in Scotland scheme which gives international students graduating from a Scottish university or college the opportunity to stay on and work for up to two years without requiring a work permit. The Scottish Executive and the Home Office have also worked together on a range of measures within the new system for managed migration that was announced by the Home Secretary on 7 March when he launched A Points-Based System: Making Migration Work for Britain (available on the Home Office website). These new specific Scottish flexibilities will build on the Fresh Talent initiative and help to attract and, crucially, retain the skills and talent to ensure the long-term sustainability of the Scottish economy and society.

  There have been no discussions on devolving immigration to the Scottish Parliament. I am confident that the best way forward for Scotland is to work in conjunction with the Home Office to achieve solutions that meet Scottish needs.

Population

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what initiatives it is involved in to increase immigration into Scotland.

Mr Tom McCabe: The Scottish Executive is looking at a number of initiatives to encourage people to move to Scotland. This includes the Fresh Talent Initiative, which is a wide ranging initiative aimed at attracting bright, talented and hard-working individuals to come and live, work and study in Scotland.

  We are also undertaking specific activity to help address demands in our public services. Last year Lewis Macdonald, Deputy Minister for Health and Community Care announced that dentists from Poland were being recruited from Poland to work in the NHS in Scotland. The first such eleven dentists arrived in Scotland in January and will provide treatment for around 20,000 patients in Argyll and Clyde, Forth Valley and Fife. Further dentists from Poland are due to arrive in a further two phases later this year. In addition, the on-going teacher recruitment campaign continues to attract teachers and their families to our shores. There has been a significant increase in the number of highly qualified teachers from outwith Scotland who have registered with the General Teaching Council for Scotland. Figures indicate a rise of over 40% since 2004.

Population

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive in what initiatives it is involved to encourage expatriates to return to Scotland.

Mr Tom McCabe: The First Minister launched a new Diaspora Strategy and hosted two events for Diaspora in Toronto and Guelph whilst in Canada in October 2005. The strategy aims to encourage the diaspora’s active participation and engagement in promoting Scotland as a great country to visit, live, learn, work, do business and invest, as well as considering returning to Scotland themselves.

  The Scottish Executive is involved with individuals and groups around the world through networks such as Global Friends of Scotland and Global Scots. These groups are provided with information about contemporary Scotland which enables them to promote Scotland and further Scottish interests internationally. We use websites such as www.scotlandistheplace.com, www.friendsofscotland.gov.uk and www.globalscot.com/public/index.aspx to communicate, in a cost effective manner, key messages about modern, dynamic Scotland being a great place to visit, live, learn, work, do business and invest in.

  The Executive is currently working on production of an e-magazine which will assist our engagement with our worldwide diaspora, and encourage individuals and groups within that body to actively participate in promoting modern Scotland as the best small country in the world.

  Ministerial visits overseas are also used to promote positive messages about modern Scotland and, where possible, events for a diaspora and expatriate audience are included in the programme. Events such as the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne are being used by the Executive to enable ministers to meet a diaspora audience.

Prescription Charges

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether individuals in receipt of the Employment and Support Allowance, proposed by the UK Government’s Green Paper on welfare reform, will be entitled to free prescriptions.

Lewis Macdonald: No decisions have been taken on the possible passporting of exemption from prescription charges as a consequence of the welfare reforms proposed by the UK Government. We will await the outcome of both the consultation on those proposals and the currently on-going consultation on the review of prescription charges in Scotland.

Prescription Charges

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether individuals in receipt of the holding benefit prior to a Personal Capability Assessment for the Employment and Support Allowance, proposed by the UK Government’s Green Paper on welfare reform, will be entitled to free prescriptions.

Prison Service

Richard Lochhead (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many young offenders aged (a) 16 and (b) 17 have been housed in adult prisons in each of the last five years, broken down by individual prison and showing year on year percentage changes and percentage change for the five year period.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  This information is not available.

Public Transport

Rosie Kane (Glasgow) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding it provided to local authorities for capital investment in projects designed to improve or enhance local bus networks in each year since 1999 and what estimates are available for future years.

Tavish Scott: Local authorities have been awarded capital funding for bus improvement and enhancement measures under both the Public Transport and Integrated Transport Funds, as set out in the following table. Many of these projects also contain elements involving rail, cycling and pedestrian measures. Due to the integrated nature of the awards, the costs for these measures cannot be separated out from the total amounts shown.

  Projects which were predominantly aimed at transport modes other than bus, but which contained bus improvement and enhancement elements, have been excluded on the same basis.

  

Local Authority
Name of Project
Year of Award
Total Award
(£ Million)


Aberdeen City
A96/A956 Bus Priority and Park and Ride
1999
£4.000


Bus Priority and Park and Ride
1999
£3.300


Modal Shift Package Project
2001
£1.805


Aberdeenshire
Ellon Park and Ride
1999
£0.600


Park and Ride
1999
£0.745


Aberdeenshire Towns Interchange1
2005
£4.416


Argyll and Bute
HITRANS Rural Interchange and Waiting Improvements
2001
£2.850


Dunoon ferry and bus interchange improvements
2002
£0.135


Clackmannanshire
Alloa Bus Interchange
1999
£0.300


Dumfries and Galloway
Dumfries Transport Initiative2
2000
£1.063


Dumfries Southern Sector Access Strategy
2001
£1.785


Dundee City
Bus priority measures on Carnoustie to Ninewells Hospital corridor
1999
£0.475


North East Arterial Corridor
1999
£1.325


North West Arterial Corridor
2000
£1.465


Bringing Confidence into Public Transport
2001
£2.310


Smart Bus
2002
£6.769


East Ayrshire
Improvements to Kilmarnock and Cumnock Bus Stations 
1999
£0.590


Kilmarnock Town Centre Action Plan
2001
£2.702


Quality Bus Corridors 
2002
£2.100


East Lothian
Musselburgh Public Transport Spine
2000
£0.642


City of Edinburgh
A90 Phase 2 bus priority measures
1999
£0.800


A Quality Bus Network for the 21st Century
2000
£8.468


West Edinburgh Busways Scheme3
2002
£6.593


Improving Access to Employment/Growth Areas
2002
£10.500


Hermiston Park and Ride
2002
£1.000


Falkirk
Improvements to Falkirk Bus Station and A803 corridor bus priority measures
1999
£0.345


Park and Ride and visitor access to Falkirk Wheel
2000
£1.600


Fife
Quality Bus Interchanges
2002
£3.997


Ferrytoll Expansion
2002
£8.075


Glasgow City
Bailleston to Faifley Bus Priority
1999
£4.750


Quality Bus Corridors 2 and 3
1999
£6.600


Quality Bus Corridor 4
2000
£2.136


Quality Bus Corridors 5-8
2001
£7.802


Highland
Inverness and Aviemore bus and rail interchange improvements
2000
£1.727


Fort William bus and rail interchange improvements
2002
£0.315


Midlothian
Todhills Park and Ride
2001
£2.000


Moray
Bus and cycling measures in Buckie, Forres and Kinloss
2002
£0.924


North Ayrshire
3 Towns Public Transport Corridor
2002
£3.302


North Lanarkshire
Harthill Local Transport Interchange Phase I
2004
£0.125


Harthill Local Transport Interchange Phase II
2005
£1.100


Orkney Islands Council
Kirkwall Travel Centre4
2005
£1.562


Perth and Kinross
Perth Bus and Cycle Priority
1999
£0.423


Perth Park and Ride and Cycle Routes
2000
£1.175


Perth Transport Plan
2002
£2.091


Renfrewshire
Integrated Transport Improvements
1999
£0.650


Access Improvements to Inchinnan Business Park and Glasgow Airport
2000
£0.268


Scottish Borders Council
Hawick Sustainable Transport Initiative
2001
£1.230


South Ayrshire
Ayr Bus Priority
1999
£1.850


Package of Integrated Transport Measures
2001
£2.710


South Ayrshire Integrated Transport System
2002
£1.325


South Lanarkshire
Rutherglen Town Centre integrated public transport improvements
2000
£0.725


Improvements to East Kilbride and Hairmyres Interchanges
2001
£0.665


Stirling
Stirling Bus Priority
1999
£0.447


East-West Public Transport Corridor
2002
£2.555


Strathclyde Passenger Transport Authority
Information Cases at Bus Stops
2002
£1.350


West Dunbartonshire
Bailleston to Faifley Bus Priority
1999
£1.300


Connecting Dumbarton
2001
£1.007


West Lothian
Forthtrip Express
1999
£0.270


Livingston Bus Priority (Fastlink)
2001
£4.044



  Notes:

  1. Originally awarded £2.4 million in 2004, following award in principle of £2 million in 2002.

  2. Originally awarded £0.900 million in 1999.

  3. Originally awarded £6.093 million in 2001.

  4. Originally awarded £1.125 million in 2002.

  The Executive has also provided separate awards to the four voluntary regional transport partnerships, the unaffiliated local authorities and Strathclyde Passenger Transport Authority in financial years 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06 for public transport projects. Decisions about which projects to fund were a matter for the partnerships and authorities, but the terms and conditions of grant did allow for improvements and enhancements to the local bus network.

  The seven new statutory regional transport partnerships will be given funding of £35 million in both financial years 2006-07 and 2007-08 for regionally strategic transport projects, which again may be used towards further bus related measures.

Rail Network

Richard Baker (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made on the Aberdeen Crossrail project.

Tavish Scott: In line with our Partnership Agreement Commitment, we continue to support the development of feasibility work for the Aberdeen Crossrail scheme. The proposal is being led by NESTRANS who are responsible for ensuring delivery of the completed feasibility work by end 2006.

  Transport Scotland Officials continue to work closely with NESTRANS and rail industry partners on maintaining project progress and momentum.

Rail Network

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects new and re-opened suburban railway stations to be operational in Aberdeen.

Tavish Scott: With the support of Scottish Executive funding, NESTRANS are currently undertaking detailed feasibility work on the Aberdeen Crossrail proposals which will consider the opening of new stations between Stonehaven and Inverurie, and Aberdeenshire Council are finalising detailed feasibility work for the proposed re-opening of Laurencekirk Station. Decisions will be taken once all relevant information is available and in the light of the rail strategy that is being developed.

Rendition Flights

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what information must be provided in support of requests for flights by aircraft chartered by the CIA, or by agencies to whom the CIA has outsourced services, to land at airports operated by Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd and, specifically, whether a list of passenger names is required.

Tavish Scott: I refer the member to the answer question S2W-21090 on 20 December 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

  In addition to the information contained in S2W-21090, an aircraft operator using any airport operated by Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd (HIAL) must also obtain or provide: prior permission to land, and a flight plan.

  There is no requirement to provide HIAL with a list of passengers’ names.

Rendition Flights

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what legal basis there is for any Executive involvement in whether prisoners were transported via Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd operated airports to a third country.

Tavish Scott: Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd (HIAL), as the licensed operator of its 10 airports, is responsible for meeting UK Civil Aviation Authority and Department for Transport regulatory, and all statutory, requirements relating to its duties as the licensee of these airports. HIAL is also accountable via its Board of Directors to the Scottish ministers for the operation and management of its business.

  The Scottish Executive requested information from HIAL regarding any flights operated on behalf of the US Government and its agencies. As S2W-22577 answered on 10 February 2006 makes clear, HIAL has no information that such flights have operated to or from its airports. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Schools

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-18439 by Peter Peacock on 13 September 2005, whether it will list all the schools that have been closed since August 2005, broken down by local authority area.

Peter Peacock: I refer the member to answer to question S2W-18439 on 13 September 2005 was derived from information collected annually by the Scottish Executive Education Department on the opening and closing of schools. The information collection takes place during the summer of each year and, therefore, information on schools that have been closed since August 2005 will not be available until later this year.

  All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Scottish Criminal Record Office

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-20247 by Cathy Jamieson on 9 November 2005, whether the dispute on the identification of certain fingerprints between the Aberdeen Fingerprint Bureau and the Scottish Criminal Record Office (SCRO) has been resolved; if not, who has responsibility for deciding how and when it is resolved; what criteria will be used for resolving it, and what action will be taken to ensure that future fingerprint identifications will be reliable and accurate.

Cathy Jamieson: The disagreement concerns identification of a fingerprint in a criminal case which has been concluded.

  The answer to question S2W-23158 on 17 February 2006 set out the detailed programme of work that has been put in place since the HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary Inspection report in September 2000 of the SCRO Fingerprint Bureau. I also announced on 22 February 2006 that I had asked the Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Police Services Authority (SPSA), Deputy Chief Constable David Mulhern, to submit, by the end of March, an action plan for the migration of the Scottish Fingerprint Service into the new Scottish Forensic Science Service from 1 April 2007. Implementing that action plan will ensure we have a world class fingerprint service, with independent oversight, scientific excellence and transparent adherence to standards.

  All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Scottish Criminal Record Office

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Scottish Criminal Record Office (SCRO) executive committee meetings were attended by any civil servant from the Executive’s Justice Department; if so, what role the civil servant performed by so attending; what practice existed on reporting information regarding the discussion at the meetings of the executive committee to the Minister for Justice, and whether there was a practice of redacting any part of the minutes of the SCRO executive committee.

Cathy Jamieson: The Head of Police Division 2 attended meetings of the Scottish Criminal Record Office Executive Committee. His role was to keep informed about the committee’s oversight of SCRO and to represent the Executive’s interests in any relevant matters discussed by the committee. Whether to report any of the proceedings to ministers was a matter for the judgment of the civil servant concerned. There was no practice of redacting the minutes of the committee.

Scottish Executive Buildings

Richard Lochhead (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many buildings it (a) owns and (b) leases and what the total square footage is in each category, broken down also by local authority area and expressed as a percentage of the total number of buildings in each case.

Mr Tom McCabe: Currently the Scottish Executive owns 15 buildings, leases 16 buildings and occupies space in another eight Government buildings which are controlled by other Government Departments. Each occupation of a Government building controlled by another Government Department is governed by a Memorandum of Terms of Occupation (MOTO)

  The total square footage of the Scottish Executive owned buildings is 534,863 square feet. The total square footage of Scottish Executive leased buildings is 404,154 square feet. The total square footage of MOTO buildings is 44,663 square feet. The breakdown of these figures is as follows:

  Owned Buildings

  

Local Authority Area
Square Footage
Percentage of Total Buildings (15)


Aberdeenshire Council
17,853
6.67


Argyll and Bute Council
9,616
6.67


City of Edinburgh Council
449,532
20


Comhairle Nan Eilean Siar
6,219
13.33


Dumfries and Galloway Council
1,679
6.67


Highland Council
21,191
20


Orkney Islands Council
4,899
6.67


Perth and Kinross Council
8,973
6.67


Scottish Borders Council
8,642
6.67


South Lanarkshire Council
6,259
6.67


Total
534,863
100



  Leased Buildings

  

Local Authority Area
Square Footage
Percentage of Total Buildings (16)


Argyll and Bute Council
1,115
6.25


City of Edinburgh Council
275,181
43.75


Falkirk Council
4,573
6.25


Glasgow City Council
91,448
18.75


Highland Council
1,983
12.5


Moray Council
3,339
6.25


Perth and Kinross Council
26,515
6.25


Total
404,154
100



  MOTO Buildings

  

Local Authority Area
Square Footage
Percentage of Total Buildings (8)


Aberdeen City Council
3,678
12.5


City of Edinburgh Council
2,934
12.5


Dumfries and Galloway Council
8,820
12.5


Dundee City Council
11,910
25


Shetland Islands Council
2,905
12.5


South Ayrshire Council
11,782
12.5


Stirling Council
6,606
12.5


Total
44.663
100

Sexual Health

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-23289 by Mr Andy Kerr on 28 February 2006, how it will monitor the success of its additional investment of £4.5 million in respect of its sexual health strategy across Scotland.

Mr Andy Kerr: The Executive will regularly review progress on the implementation of the strategy.

  In addition, all NHS boards will submit an annual report on progress against the actions outlined in both their Local Interagency Sexual Health Strategies and their Clinical Services Plans. These will be reported to the National Sexual Health Advisory Committee. The Executive will then produce an annual progress report. The first annual progress report is scheduled for the summer.

  The Executive will complement these annual reports with a comprehensive five year review.

Smoking

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it envisages the police using their powers of dispersal under the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004 to move on any group of people who are smoking outside a public place, after the implementation of the ban on smoking in public places.

Hugh Henry: A decision about whether to designate an area as a dispersal zone is for the police in consultation with the local authority and local people. Dispersal Orders are intended to give respite to people whose lives have been blighted by serious, persistent and serious antisocial behaviour.

Smoking

Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the ban on smoking in public places will cover the driver’s compartment in black taxi cabs where there is physical separation from the passenger compartment.

Lewis Macdonald: All public transportation vehicles are classed as no-smoking premises under the new law. A "public transportation vehicle" under the law means any vehicle available to the public as a means of transportation and specifically includes a taxi and a private hire car. Therefore, from 26 March 2006 smoking will not be permitted at any time in a taxi. The law will apply regardless of whether or not there are passengers in the taxi.

Sport

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure that local authorities consult  sportscotland and make use of its research and guidance on the configuration and sizing of proposed indoor and outdoor sports facilities in new or refurbished schools and the suitability of such facilities for community use.

Peter Peacock: In the School Estate Strategy Building our Future: Scotland’s School Estate,  published in 2003, both the Executive and COSLA agreed on the importance of all the facilities in new and refurbished schools, including sports facilities, being a community resource. In subsequent supplementary guidance, such as The 21st Century School , the Executive has indeed drawn specifically to local authorities’ attention  sportscotland’s role, as well as relevant publications and guidance.

Transport

Shiona Baird (North East Scotland) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive what assistance might be available to assist in improving rail and road links to any ports, such as Montrose Port, that are currently affected by lack of transport infrastructure.

Tavish Scott: Assistance may be available to ports to improve rail infrastructure through the Freight Facilities Grant scheme where additional facilities are required to transfer freight from road to rail or water.

  Statutory responsibility for the network of local roads lies with individual local authorities, who have received an additional £60 million in each of 2006-07 and 2007-08 for roads and bridges work. In addition, £35 million in capital funding will be available in each of 2006-07 and 2007-08 to the Regional Transport Partnerships to provide support for strategic regional and local road and public transport projects.

Waste Management

Richard Lochhead (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to the (a) UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and (b) European Union regarding the EU Landfill Directive in respect of the proposal for field stones to be classified as commercial waste.

Ross Finnie: None as we are not aware of any such proposal. I understand that the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, which is responsible for the enforcement of waste legislation in Scotland, does not consider field stones to be waste unless they are actually disposed of to landfill.

Young People

Tommy Sheridan (Glasgow) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many employment quota schemes designed to create job opportunities for young people leaving care are operated by local authorities and whether the Executive specifically encourages, endorses or finances such schemes.

Allan Wilson: We do not hold information centrally about these schemes. Whilst not specifically endorsing "employment quota schemes", the Executive has funded a number of supported employment pilots, delivered by Careers Scotland. These have been targeted at young people not in education, employment and training, of which care leavers are an important sub-group. Following a positive evaluation (April 2005), the supported employment approach is currently being mainstreamed across Careers Scotland.

Young People

Tommy Sheridan (Glasgow) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has evaluated the Youthstart employment scheme for young people leaving care operated in South Lanarkshire and whether it considers that such schemes should be promoted and adopted across all local authorities.

Allan Wilson: I am aware of the excellent work carried out by the Youthstart employment initiative in South Lanarkshire. It was previously a successful New Futures Fund (NFF) project that South Lanarkshire Council agreed to fund from April 2005. Although the Executive has not evaluated this project, Scottish Enterprise commissioned an independent evaluation NFF that was completed in April 2005. I remain committed to mainstreaming the employability model successfully developed through NFF.

Young People

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how it will take forward the recommendations contained in the report of the NEET Workstream submitted to the Executive in June 2005.

Allan Wilson: The Scottish Executive is currently developing a strategy to reduce the proportion of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) in Scotland. The strategy will be published shortly and will build on the findings of the NEET workstream report which was published in August 2005.